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Argentina approves historic agreement to pay US creditors

Ending years of financial isolation and court battles, Buenos Aires has acceded to repaying its creditors. If the senate had rejected the payment deal, the debt would have likely gone viral, an opposition lawmaker said.

The Argentine Senate on Thursday approved a deal to pay back US creditors, effectively ending a 14-year court battle after defaulting on $100 billion (88.35 billion euros) in debt in 2001.

Following over 13 hours of debate, the deal - which passed Argentina's lower house two weeks ago - passed the Senate vote with 54 in favor and 16 against.

Under the deal, Argentina is expected to pay out over $4 billion (3.53 billion euros) in claims related to court cases.

It also allows Argentina to take on $12.5 billion in debt to settle the holdout creditors' disputes.

In 2005 and 2010, several US creditors agreed to swap their holdings for bonds worth far less than their original stakes.

But a handful of holdout creditors refused to settle on Argentina's debt restructuring in the wake of the historic default, instead taking Buenos Aires to court to force the country to comply with its original credit terms.

The deal marks a victory for Argentine President Mauricio Macri, who campaigned on a conservative platform of rehabilitating the economy through several measures, including negotiating an end to the years-long dispute.